Village of Walden residents are eager to know if they are getting an ambulance service like neighboring villages as 2022 is coming to a close.
On Tuesday, October 18, the Village of Walden Board of Trustees further discussed the idea of Walden getting ambulance services. Earlier this year, an ambulance district was formed to serve the Town of Montgomery and the villages of Maybrook and Montgomery, but Walden is not yet part of this and many locals are beginning to get curious if they will opt in or not.
At the meeting, Village Manager John Revella said he and other board members met with Town of Montgomery Supervisor Brian Maher to get all of the details. This included discussion of requests for proposals (RFP) from three different possible service providers.
“We actually received copies of the RFP today from the three companies that submitted to the town to discuss options moving forward,” said Revella.
The three service providers in question are Mobile Life, Empress and the Town of Montgomery Ambulance Corps.
In reference to the notes that trustees wanted from the last meeting, Trustee Lynn E. Thompson said, “We still didn’t get any notes from the mayor. So I guess we’re just going with what we are learning now.”
Thompson also shared what she learned at the meeting so there was some transparency for residents. “I don’t want anybody to think that there’s no information to give you. It was the same. He [Maher] basically talked about getting the RFP [and that] they have to go through them.”
Most of the board was in agreement; they wanted to wait until the Town of Montgomery’s board meeting that Thursday, October 20 before making any decisions or speaking about it further.
During public comment at the Town of Montgomery board meeting, a local resident said, “I, like the rest of Walden, am very concerned about the ambulance district and what’s going on, not going on, and basically the lack of information out there.”
Maher suggested the resident go to the Village of Walden board and ask for transparency. He also hopes that Walden is able to get fully involved by November.
“We are hoping that they are able to opt in in November. Our goal is to have a presentation on November 1. They may not opt in on November 1, but it might be the next meeting in November after the board gets into a contract or takes action on the RFP,” said Maher.
Further, Maher claims there has been a bit of communication issues with Walden, and not exactly on the Town of Montgomery’s side. “I can’t speak for them, but they certainly have had all the information they’ve needed to make a decision, and that’s something that you got to definitely take up with them.”
In terms of Montgomery, they plan to invite each of the service providers who have presented an RFP to their budget session, where they will do a Q&A session. Maher hopes that they will make a decision at their November 3 meeting.
Maher reiterated that he will be talking to the Walden board on November 1. If they choose to opt in then, Maher explains it will be for 2024.
“They would either work with us or the entity that we hired directly. It’ll be their choice. It makes the most sense to deal with the town and to have them make a payment to us so that they’re part of the district, but that’s something that is a separate issue from them opting in for 2024.”